


Freedom Child

by JustSaph



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 06:51:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13607895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustSaph/pseuds/JustSaph
Summary: College AU kind of. Max and Kate are roommates.





	1. Chapter One

The town of Arcadia bay wasn’t what Max Caulfield had thought she wanted for a college town. The town itself was quiet, with the population of the town not including college students being quite low. 

Upon hearing of the creation of a new photography program at Blackwell, Max had decided that it was worth at least visiting, much to her dad’s dismay. When saw the campus for the first time, she had fallen in love with it instantly. Yes, she had said that the city would be more exciting due to the volume of people. Yes, she was aware it was out of state. No, she was not changing her mind if she was accepted. 

There had been few things that had made her as happy as when she opened the letter from Blackwell declaring her acceptance into the photography program, as well as a sizeable scholarship. Standing now in front of the Prescott dorms, it was hard for her to believe it was all real. 

Max’s dad stood next to her, looking up at the higher floors of the building. “There’s still time to change your mind you know,” he joked, nudging her shoulder with his arm. 

“Ha ha, Dad,” Max rolled her eyes. “We’ve been over this a million times.” 

“I know, I know,” he said, now looking down at her. He sniffled a bit, and pulled Max into a tight hug. “I’m going to miss you.” 

“Me too,” Max mumbled into him. 

They broke apart a long moment later, and he checked his watch. A lot of time had passed since they had arrived on campus as he had wanted to check on a few things with the administration before they came over to the dorms.

“I should be going if I want to be home at a decent hour,” he said, sighing. He wasn’t looking forward to the long drive home, and mostly missing the company provided on the way to Blackwell.

“Alright,” Max pulled him in again for one quick hug. “I’ll call you sometime later this week.” 

Max pulled her suitcase up the stairs, up to the double doors. She turned around at the top to wave goodbye one last time, knowing if she delayed any longer he would never leave, before pushing her way inside. 

The lobby was standard as far as dorms went. There was a board with several colorful announcements and advertisements pinned on it, a front desk with no one behind it, and various pieces of furniture scattered around the room intended to create a common space. There were a few people in the lobby, mostly students with their parents and a couple people just relaxing in armchairs. 

Looking around closely, she didn’t recognize anyone from her high school. Not that she knew if anyone from there was attending, but she felt some of her nervousness leave. Theoretically, she should have at least known her roommate by now, but she had made little contact with her and wasn’t privy to much information. Max knew her name, Kate Marsh, but did not know much beyond that.

Kate had initiated contact with her through the email provided by Blackwell, and Max was not able to find her on social media at all. They had discussed some basics, such as appliances they might be bringing or purchasing in the future.. Kate had seemed nice based on what Max could tell from a conversation about mundane living details. 

Max made her way through one of the doors on the side of the lobby leading into the stairwell. She dragged her bags up the stairs, lamenting the fact that she had brought this much stuff, though she knew she was probably under the average amount that a first year student would bring. 

In a couple minutes, Max had reached the third floor of the building. She made her way down the hallway, passing by other students rooms. Most of them were closed, but a few were wide open with people talking loudly, and one room playing music that could be heard clearly through the room’s closed door. She was glad that her room was not next to that one.

She pulled out her key to her room, sliding it into the lock and opening the door. The dorm room was nothing spectacular. On her side of the room, she had a desk, a dresser, and her bed, with the other side mirroring it exactly. With some decorations on her part though, Max figured she could live with it. She was looking forward to maybe having the chance to repeat her photowall from her own room back in Seattle. 

Kate’s side of the room was already set up, to Max’s surprise. The bed was already adorned with dark blue sheets and a white pillow. A couple photo frames were sitting on the dresser, containing what Max assumed had to be pictures of her family. Next to those, there was a copy of the bible with multi-colored sticky notes jutting out from various sections in the book. Max frowned, hoping that Kate wasn’t religious to the point where it might be a problem.

Max suddenly felt like she was intruding on her roommate’s privacy, and that she had no business being in the room by herself. She rummaged through her suitcase pulling out her own bedsheets and blankets, setting up her own side of the room. By the end of it, she still felt guilty staying in here. 

Digging through another section of her bag, she pulled out her polaroid camera. It had been a long time since she had visited Blackwell before arriving today, but she remembered seeing some spots where she could take some good pictures. 

By the time Max had made her way back outside, the sun was hanging low in the sky, making the ground glow. The quad of Blackwell was well populated at the moment, many students, presumably freshmen, milling about the grass. Centered on the green was a wooden stage with a podium on top, accompanied by a banner that read, ‘Welcome, Blackwell Students!”, on the front of it in large red letters. 

Max checked the time on her phone, having forgotten about the welcoming event that was scheduled for new students. She sighed in relief, realizing that she had a good amount of time before it started. Deciding to stick with her original plan, she made her way off of the main campus and towards the front stairs of the campus. 

One amazing thing about the campus of Blackwell was that the bay was quite literally at its doorstep. Just across the street, down some more steps or over the short wall, and the beach was right there. 

Sunlight reflected beautifully off the water, creating sparkling waves drifting up onto the sand lazily, and retreating back into water. Max brought the camera up to her eyes, taking a photo of the scene in front of her, marvelling at how perfect it seemed. 

Max looked around the rest of the beach, waiting for the picture in her hand to develop. The beach was incredibly long, some of it rougher than the rest, making it ill suited for tourists due to lack of capacity. At the end of the beach, she could see a lighthouse on top of a cliff that jutted out into the bay. There was no way she wouldn’t make time to go up there this semester, Max decided. 

Max glanced at the photo she had just taken, now being able to make out its content. The angle in her photo hadn’t been exactly what she had been looking for, but it was far from a bad first shot of the bay. If it looked like this from down here, the lighthouse must be amazing. 

A shout followed by some loud laughs drew her attention away from the lighthouse and in the other direction, where she could see two girls knee deep in the water dodging each other's splashes, still dressed in t-shirts and shorts. The one with dyed blue hair raised her hands as if in surrender and the other laughed harder, ceasing her splashing. Their every move seemed natural and carefree. Max didn’t realize she had even taken a picture before she was taking it out of the camera. She felt awkward doing it, but there was something special in the moment she had just witnessed she felt that she wouldn’t be able to capture again. 

Max wondered if they were attending Blackwell as well and if there was a chance she would be seeing them around in the hallways. She watched as they made their way out of the water and up to the wall, climbing over it and back onto the sidewalk. In a few moments they were out of sight, completely ignorant to her existence. 

Max took a couple more picture from various spots on the beach, angling a couple to capture the lighthouse in the background, before deciding that she was finished for the day. Nothing she had taken was particularly interesting barring that of the girls she didn’t even know. Frowning, Max considered throwing it out before stuffing it into one of her pockets. 

Checking her phone, she found it was almost time for the event to start. She hastily made her way back to the quad. Arriving just in time, she walked to the edge of the crowd sitting on the grass, taking a seat. 

“Greetings, new Blackwell students,” the man behind the podium announced, introducing himself as Principal Wells. 

Wells held a stern expression the whole he time he was talking, making it seem like he was angry he even had to be here in the first place. Max was sure that this, combined with his baldness would make him often the subject of an array of jokes. He was dressed in a standard black suit and red tie, contrasting from the casually dressed students gathered in front of him. 

While he continued talking about the University, and how excited he was to see everyone in a monotone voice, Max zoned out looking at the other students around her. She wasn’t alone in being bored already.. Some guys on her left were picking blades of grass out of the ground and throwing them at each other. A group of girls that looked like the archetype of “the popular girls” were snickering at something every few seconds and whispering loudly. 

Seeing all of the people already making friends, Max frowned, remembering that she knew absolutely no one here yet. At one point she thought she caught a glimpse of someone from her old high school, but she could have easily been mistaken.

The girl on her right was still sitting quietly, respectively listening to Wells’s speech. Though Max could see her drumming her fingers on her leg. She looked kind of familiar, though Max couldn’t place it. Deciding that now was as good of a time as ever, Max tapped her on the shoulder. 

“Hi uh,” Max fumbled, hoping she wasn’t put off by her awkwardness, “I don’t really know anyone here yet and thought I should probably at least try to make friends.” The girl smiled back at her warmly. 

“I don’t know anyone here yet either,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Kate.” 

“Kate? As in Marsh?” Max asked. The girl nodded slowly. “Wow, that’s a coincidence. Funny story, ”I’m your roommate.” 

“Oh, so that would make you-”

“Max Caulfield,” she chuckled, “Yeah, that’s me.” 

“This is definitely not how I expected to meet you,” Kate laughed as well. 

“Me either,” Max said, “Sorry for not talking more with you over email, I was busy with a lot of stuff and maybe just a little bit nervous if I’m honest.” 

“That’s fine,” Kate reassured her, “I was a bit nervous about coming here too. The arts program here ended up winning me over. I heard they got Mark Jefferson to teach the photography course, isn’t that incredible?” 

“Are you majoring in photography as well?” Max asked. 

“I’m more into drawing actually,” Kate said apologetically. She gestured at Max’s camera, “I’m taking Jefferson’s class though, I think we’ll be in the same one this year at least.” Max grinned at this.

“I’m glad I won’t going into at least one of my classes without knowing anyone. I’m not the best at making friends.” 

“Well now you have one,” Kate smiled. Max felt her heart jump slightly. Despite trying to keep a positive outlook, Max had a sneaking suspicion that everything would go wrong. She put those thoughts aside for the moment, content with the progress she’d made so far. 

At this, the crowd around them began clapping. Wells had finished his speech and was stepping down from the podium. Students stood up, the crowd gradually dispersing from the quad. Kate and Max lingered behind, stretching out after having been sitting for an extended duration.

“Are you going back to the dorms now?” Max asked.

“I was going to check out the dining hall actually,” Kate replied. “Do you want to join me?” 

“Sure,” Max shrugged. 

The pair made their way across the quad, walking slowly and talking. Admittedly, Max’s initial impressions of her roommate had been off the mark. Kate didn’t seem intent on pushing her religion or anything of the sort, the only indication in anything about her being Christian was the necklace with a cross on it hanging around her neck. 

The day had been far better than expected thus far, but in the back of Max’s mind she felt like it wouldn’t last. Kate would find out eventually. Then, well, Max didn’t want to think about it. She felt nervous now, thinking about how she might have to change rooms and how soon she would have to apply to do that before it was too late, and a whole host of other possible consequences. 

Arriving at the dining hall, they broke off from each other, both intent on getting different foods. Max got her dinner first, picking a table to wait for Kate. She twirled the fork in the pasta sitting in front of her. There were plenty of other people in the dining hall as well, being at peak hours for the day. She thought she caught a flash of blue hair out of the corner of her eye, but if the girl from earlier was here, she had disappeared into the crowd. 

Sitting near her at a table of there were also the presumably popular girls she had seen earlier. The whispers and pointing were present once again, Max could feel like judgement they took on people around them. She hoped that they wouldn’t be in any of her classes, she had a feeling her “hipster” clothing would make her a probable target. 

The girls seemed like they were the polar opposite of her. Everything they wore was name brand and screamed, ‘My trust fund is in my parent’s overseas bank account’. The blond girl in the middle with short hair looked like she was in a perpetual state of judgement on the people surrounding her. Max could see at a glance that even the camera she was holding was top of the line. Wait. Max swore. Of course at least one of them would end up in photography with her. Of course would be. 

Kate finally sat down across from her. “Sorry it took me so long, changed my mind last minute.”

“That’s fine,” Max said, “You really didn’t take that long.” 

Max started eating, while Kate closed her eyes and appeared to say a quick prayer. 

“Can I ask you a question, Kate?” 

“Sure, ask me anything.” 

“How… religious are you?” Max asked, immediately cringing at her phrasing. Kate stared at her blankly.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking me, sorry?”

“That came out wrong I think, um,” Max rubbed her arm nervously. “I’ve, uh, some bad experiences with people who were, for lack of better wording, awful about it.” 

“What do you mean?” Kate frowned. 

Max grimaced, this would’ve come up eventually she figured. There would be no way to keep it from her roommate forever. At least she had kind of got to know Kate. She steeled herself to get it out of the way now and deal with the consequences. “I’m trans.” 

“As in you were, um..” 

“I was born male.” 

“Oh.” Max was ready for any number of insults to follow, for anything and everything to go wrong. Silence. She cautiously opened her eyes. “Thanks for telling me, Max. I know must have been hard to tell me something like that.” Max had not been ready for that. 

“You don’t, hate me or something?” 

Kate shook her head, “Of course not.” 

Max let out a sigh of relief, “Oh thank dog, this would’ve been an awful year.” 

“I don’t think I could ever find it in me to hate anyone for something like that,” Kate said. “The fact that people can have such blind hatred disgusts me.” Kate dug at her food frustratedly, “It makes me wonder if they’ve read the same bible I have.” Wow. Max definitely had not been ready for Kate Marsh. She had stumbled upon a literal angel. 

“I,” Max started, then paused. “Thanks, Kate. Really.” 

“You don’t have to thank me for being a decent human being,” Kate smiled. 

Max had no reply to that. When things were put that simply, everything did seem ridiculous to her. Why not just treat each other like actual human beings? That was a question she was sure scientists would be struggling to answer for decades to come. 

They ate in silence for a while, Max feeling a lot more at ease than she had before. Max broke the silence, “So, how’d you like the dorm room so far?” 

“It’s nice. I got here pretty early in the day so I had a chance to set up everything already, getting Alice’s cage up the stairs was a pain though.” 

“Alice?” Max asked, confused.

“Alice is my bunny,” Kate said, pulling out her phone and showing it to Max. A black and white bunny eating a small carrot was her lockscreen. “Her cage is in the corner of the room, at the head of my bed.” 

Huh. Max wondered how she could have possible missed it, surprised at how oblivious she had been. “Can I say hi when we get back? I love rabbits.” she said earnestly. 

“You’re going to be seeing her for the whole year, Max,” Kate smirked. “It would be weird if I tried to keep her away from you.” 

“That’s true,” Max laughed, any tension she had left evaporating. Things were going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I started this for NaNoWriMo and I got about 13k ish? I kind of lost motivation somewhere along the way after that month + midterms and blah but I'm going through and editing (or trying to) mostly before writing anything new. Honestly, I'll probably be doing like a one chapter a week kind of thing as long as I can keep it up. Hopefully this is a bit smoother than what I had before editing.
> 
> Originally wanted to make this pricefield but I think Before the Storm got to me when I was writing this, along with some other fics inspiring a certain other pairing that in retrospect I really have no idea how I expected to ever avoid.
> 
> Idk why I only got around to posting this now honestly.


	2. Chapter Two

An hour later, they were back at the dorms, getting ready for bed. Max was sitting on Kate’s bed with Alice in her lap. As she pet Alice, she marvelled at how fluffy she was. “Does she actually weigh anything, or is it just all in her fur?” 

Kate was at her desk, reading something out of a book for one of her classes that was starting tomorrow. “Seventy percent of bunnies weight actually comes from their fur, and ten percent of it comes from their tails.”

Max stopped petting Alice. “Wait, actually?” 

“No.” 

“Why do you have to do this to me Kate,” Max whined, rolling over in Kate’s bed to face her. 

“It’s pretty fun actually,” Kate said. “I never really got a chance to joke much back home.” She opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to say more but just closed it again without saying anything. 

Interesting. Max had assumed that with Kate’s point of view, she would have had one of those new age religious families that was not very conservative overall. “Are you telling me you weren’t allowed to have fun?” 

“No, no,” Kate said hurriedly, “We had fun. It was just a bit subdued.” 

Max stayed silent for a moment before hopping off of her bed, walking over to her side of the room grabbing her laptop from her desk. 

“Alright then, Kate,” Max grinned, “Let’s watch a movie.” 

“It’s getting kind of late,” she protested. “I don’t know if it's a good idea, classes start tomorrow too..” 

Max rolled her eyes at Kate’s rambling, “Surely there’s something you want to watch?”

“I haven’t seen that many movies,” Kate muttered. “I don’t really like them.” 

Max frowned. She quickly scrolled through the movies she had on her laptop, courtesy of a friend back in Seattle. 

“Okay-” Max turned around her laptop to face Kate, “But you can’t say no to a Harry Potter marathon.” 

“I’ve never seen them or read them actually.” Kate paused. “My mom wasn’t really a fan of the whole concept.” 

Max didn’t have anything to say to that. With the little she knew so far about Kate Marsh, this only added to the confusing list of factors that made her wonder how she could possibly be the person she is today. 

“She uh, sounds pretty..” Max scratched the back of her head. She wasn’t quite sure what to say without risking offending Kate. “Strict,” she finished.

“She just wants the best for me,” Kate insisted. Max could see see that she was getting frustrated with the conversation, her forehead was wrinkled and a frown was faintly present on her face. 

“Alright,” Max backed off, “Can we please watch at least one movie though?” she said, making doe-eyes at Kate. She knew she had her when she broke into a slight smile and a light red tinted her cheeks. “Please?” 

“Fine, fine,” Kate sighed. “Let’s not make this a habit though.”

“Yes!” Max fist pumped the air, bouncing slightly on the bed. 

She had dreamed of having the stereotypical college life she’d read about so many times; A roommate that her got along with well and hung out often, getting away from her hometown, and hopefully many nights like this one. There was a time in Max’s life that she was worried she never would be able to experience many of the things that she wanted to, but as of right now, college life seemed like it was off to a great start. Max pulled Kate onto the bed next to her, grinning.

“Ready?” Max asked. Kate nodded and Max pressed play, triggering the opening sequence. 

The pair were soon pressed up close under the blankets, having made it through about a quarter of the movie. Kate was extremely invested into it by now. “How could his relatives possibly treat him like that?” she complained gesturing to the screen. “That’s awful!”

“If you think that’s bad, wait until you see some of the things people do later,” Max replied.

Kate looked at her, horrified. “How much worse can people be?” Max elected not to answer that question.

A half hour later, and Max was struggling to keep awake, taking a very long time to open her eyes every time she blinked. Kate watched her with a smirk, tearing her eyes away from the screen. Max was curled into the blankets, looking like a very cute burrito. 

“Are you going to be able to finish the movie, Max?” Kate asked, nudging her. Max mumbled incoherently pulling the blanket around herself tighter. Alice protested to the movement and hopped over to Kate’s side. 

“You should finish it yourself,” Max finally mumbled loud enough for her to hear. “I don’t want to delay your quest.” 

“It’s fine,” Kate said, “I think I enjoy watching movies more with you anyways.” Max didn’t respond to this, still keeping her eyes closed. “Max?” Nothing, again. Kate paused the movie, closing the laptop screen, and tried to move out of the bed to put it back on Max’s desk. 

“Noo,” Max whined, “Come back, you’re warm.” Kate chuckled, setting the laptop back on Max’s desk. She then walked back over to the bed, picking up Alice and putting her back into her cage, making sure that she was settled for the night. She walked over to the doorway and flicked the light switch, sending the room into darkness. 

The only light in the room was the light from the streetlight shining faintly into the room. Kate awkwardly made her way over to Max’s side of the room to sit down on her bed. Thinking she should probably just sleep there since Max had taken hers. She had only just pulled herself under the covers when Max called out again. 

“Katee,” Max called. “Are you coming orrr.” 

“I’m just going to sleep in your bed if that’s okay,” Kate said. “There’s not that much room on these beds for two people anyways.” 

“Oh.” Max sounded almost disappointed. “Yeah, that makes sense,” she trailed off. Kate had a feeling she wouldn’t remember half of the night by the next day. 

“Goodnight, Max,” Kate said, closing her eyes as well. There was no response, and Kate assumed Max had fallen asleep for the night. 

Five minutes later though, she heard a muffled, “Night,” from the other side of the room, causing her to smile. Kate had a lot to think about. There was a lot that happened that she needed to go over, and she wasn’t quite sure how to feel about all of it. This was supposed to be wrong. She was supposed feel wrong. 

Everything was new and foreign to her, and she felt like she was on unfamiliar territory constantly. But the weirdest part was that this unfamiliar territory didn’t make her uncomfortable. On the contrary, it made her feel excited about the future, and this new chapter of her life. Still, a lot of incoherent thoughts floated around her conscientious. What she was sure about, was that this year would be eventful. Kate lay motionless for a while unable to fall asleep, her thoughts being much too loud.

\----------------------------------

The morning sunlight streamed through the window of the room, causing Max to groan as it hit her eyes, covering her face with her pillow. Just as she thought she might be able to fall asleep again, an alarm clock went off somewhere around head. She flailed her arm searching for the snooze button, hitting it by pure chance. Max sighed in relief, closing her eyes again. A moment later, she shot up in bed upon the realization that she, in fact, did not own an alarm clock. 

Max blinked rapidly, gathering her surroundings. Oh, right. She was in Kate’s bed, not her own. Kate was already up, sitting at her desk, her bible sitting on the desk, reading out of it. She looked like something was stressing her out again, as if she was having trouble deciphering what was written on the pages. ‘She’s probably read it a thousand times, that would be ridiculous,’ Max thought, dismissing the idea.

“Sorry for taking your bed last night.” 

Kate looked up distractedly, as if she was just reminded of Max’s presence. Some of the stress disappearing from her face. “It was fine,” Kate reassured her, “I slept in yours as well.” 

“I didn’t think about that actually,” Max rubbed the back of her head, “I was kind of out of it by the end of last night. I’m not used to staying up late.” 

Kate raised an eyebrow at this, not believing her. “You were the one who wanted to watch a movie.” 

“Hey, isn’t that was roommates are supposed to do though?” Max questioned. “I was just doing my duty as a good roomie.” 

“I think you could accomplish that without staying up late.” In truth Kate had had a longer night than Max had, falling asleep later and waking up earlier as well. She had been nervous for her first class today and hadn’t wanted to miss her alarm, in addition to other prevalent thoughts. Her alarm. Kate bolted out of her seat, grabbing some of her clothes out of her bag. “My alarm went off five minutes ago, I have to get ready. You should too, Max.”

“I think I have a bit longer actually,” Max said, trying to remember her schedule. She thought she only had one class starting at 11, but she wasn’t sure. 

Kate bustled around the room before, leaving a few minutes later saying a quick goodbye to Max. Max let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she was holding, getting out of bed to change out of her pajamas. The thought of changing around other people still made her nervous. She wasn’t quite comfortable with herself yet, she often looked at herself in the mirror only able to see imperfections. She could only imagine what others saw her as. 

Everyone back home had known, an effect of growing up in the same town her whole life. It felt like torture walking through the same halls of school everyday, hearing the same whispers following her around. Most people avoided her for fear of getting involved with her. She had a couple people she had considered friends, but they were few of them and fallen out of contact over the summer, not having the heart to say goodbye. If she could help it, she wouldn’t be returning. 

It would be different here, she told herself. She had gotten off to a good start with Kate, but the voices in the back of her mind were still there, feeding her doubts. ‘She doesn’t actually like you. She just took pity on you. She is only trying to be amiable because she has to put up with you the whole year.” 

Max shook her head, dispelling those thoughts. It was vital to her that she maintained at least some faith in people. If she didn’t give Kate the benefit of the doubt, she wasn’t sure what she would do. 

Max changed quickly out of her pajamas, throwing on some jeans, a t-shirt and a red flannel. “Way to live up to the stereotype,” Max muttered, looking at herself quickly in the mirror. 

Max grabbed her phone, checking the time. She still had an hour about an hour before class. She figured it would be best to get breakfast somewhere and then head to class after that. A few moments later, she was outside the cool air reminding her that winter was just around the corner. She hugged her flannel to herself tighter, making a mental note to herself to find her jacket in her suitcase at some point later. 

Max remembered there being a coffee shop somewhere on campus that she had see on her way in yesterday. After a few incorrect turns and stopping some people who looked like they knew what they were doing, Max was able to find the shop tucked into the side of the building next to the library. 

Pushing open the door, it was exactly what she hoped it would be. Fairly empty, and full of the fantastic scent of coffee drifting through the air. It reminded Max of a similar place she had frequented back home. As a plus, she had been friendly with the staff there, often being given freebie baked goods.  
It wasn’t that Max was one of those people that couldn’t function without coffee in the morning, but she had found that starting days she deemed as important with coffee in her system was greatly beneficial. She ordered an espresso at the counter along with a muffin, and made her way over to a table in the corner of the room after receiving her order. 

People watching was one of Max’s favorite pastimes. From her view from the corner of the room, she could easily see the rest of the cafe, along with a decent view of the campus outside. Students moved slowly through the paths, many of them bundled up, clearly more prepared for the chilly weather than she had been.

As her luck would have it, a familiar blue-haired girl walked by with the same girl from yesterday. ‘I guess they do go here’, Max thought. They stopped in front of the coffee shop, the blue-haired girl pulling the brown haired one into a kiss. Max looked away blushing. This was the second time already she had intruded on them. 

The door jingled indicating that someone had entered the shop, and Max looked up seeing the blue haired girl walk across the shop and behind the counter, taking off her jacket. She was wearing the same the uniform as the rest of the employees, barring the black beanie she kept on as her seeming sole act of defiance against the dress code. 

Max started to panic. ‘Should I say something to her? Introduce myself? Wait. Why I do that. Order something else? At least learn her name?’ Max walked over to the side of the room where the napkins and straws were, taking a couple napkins and trying to sneak a peek at her name tag. Luckily, the girl was tall and she could see her name tag quite clearly. Chloe, it read in black text on her nametag. A well defined skull with a spiked hat was drawn onto the name tag in black sharpie next to it. 

Chloe. Max felt slightly better about the her whole predicament now that she was able to assign a name to at least of them. Like she could at least pretend that she knew them more than she did, so it wasn’t creepy. Right? She sighed, no it really didn’t and not it was not that big of a deal. 

Moving back to her seat in the corner, she sat down again, glancing behind her at Chloe. She was just moving some cups around on the counter, cleaning up the mess the previous person on the counter had neglected to clean up. Chloe didn’t seem to mind though, a slight smile still present on her face. If Max had to guess, she would assume that Chloe was still thinking about the girl before. Max would be too if she were in Chloe’s place. 

Max nervously tapped her fingers on the table, not wanting to stay in here much longer anymore. She got out of her seat, bumping her table and knocking over what remained of her espresso. Shit, she thought. It streamed off of the table and fell onto the floor. She couldn’t just leave. 

“So, you just gonna stand there or are you gonna let me clean this up?” 

Chloe was standing in front of her, Max hadn’t even realized she had walked over. 

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Max took a large step to the side. “Sorry about that, I’m pretty clumsy sometimes.” 

“It’s no problem,” Chloe laughs. “There’s been worse things to happen in here, trust me.” 

Max’s face turned a slight shade of red, all she had to do was not say something stupid. “Nice Chloe we’re having.” 

Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Yes? That’s my name.” Max’s face turned a deeper shade of red. Suddenly it felt overwhelmingly hot in the room. 

“I’m uh, just going to go. Sorry again.” Max slipped past Chloe, almost sprinting out of the room. If people could die of embarrassment, Max was sure that Chloe would be cleaning up a corpse in addition to the spill, if that even fell under her job description. ‘Removing situations potentially causing distress to other customers’, something along those lines. 

Running her hand through her hair, Max groaned. Not only did she make herself an inconvenience, she had also said quite certainly the most stupid thing she could have possibly said. Great. She felt frustrated, embarrassed, angry at herself, and everything in between. “Way to be incapable of normal human interaction,” she muttered to herself. 

All around her, people moved around in groups, on their way to wherever they were going. Some went in pairs, groups of three, sometimes more. Why couldn’t she do that? Kate only tolerated her because of obligation. There was no way that she could stand Max. What kind of person is as forward as Max had been on the first day of meeting your roommate? Definitely not anyone normal.

“Stupid,” Max kicked the ground, “How stupid can I possibly be?” No one answered her of course, but she felt like the answer was obvious. Pretty damn stupid. Her phone started to vibrate in her pocket, she pulled it out stopping the alarm. There were ten minutes until the start of her first class of the semester, and she was on the opposite side of the campus from it. 

Max instantly picked up her pace, trying to push thoughts of inadequacy to the back of her mind. It wasn’t easy. She was sure people were staring at her sprinting across campus. Laughing. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse, upon arrival at the classroom, she bumped into the doorframe on the way in, her camera falling to the floor making a sound that made Max immediately flinch. 

Feeling around her neck for the strap that usually accompanied the camera, she realized she had left it in her bag in her rush to get to class. Snickers and muffled laughter resonated from different parts of the class. Max’s face flushed red, scrambling to pick up her camera and the pieces that had fallen off. She took the seat closest to the door at the front of the classroom, not wanting to look up and make eye contact with anyone. 

It is often said that first impressions are vital to how much people are willing to interact with another individual. Even the briefest recollection of an event with another person, anything familiar, may make you more inclined to interact with them if not negatively associated. All things considered, Max was certain that she had just made a terrible one, and that there was little reason for anyone in the class to think positively of her in any way.

“Max,” she heard whispered behind her. She glanced behind her to see Kate sitting behind her and one seat to the left. Kate gave her a smile, and a small wave. Max turned away from her, focusing on the desk in front of her. It would be better for Kate if she didn’t interact with her. Nothing good would come of it here. 

The teacher entered the classroom shortly after that, signalling the start of class. He scrawled his name on the whiteboard as if the students in the class didn’t already know who he was. ‘Mr. Jefferson’, he wrote in plain lettering. 

Max assumed like herself, many of the students in the classroom around her had applied to the photography program because of Jefferson. Being a wildly popular photographer, having won several awards and featured in several magazines, any aspiring artist would jump at the chance to be instructed by such a reputable individual. 

It had come as a shock to much of the art world that Jefferson had opted to start teaching at Blackwell rather than any other potential pursuit. That hadn’t concerned Max when applying however. Learning under Jefferson was an opportunity not easily passed upon when given a chance. 

Despite all of this, Max was having trouble concentrating on what was happening at the moment. She had almost forgotten about him entirely in the last two days. Her mind was in several different places at once. She was in the cafeteria alone. She was embarrassing herself at the coffee shop. She was on the floor of the classroom with everyone staring at her. She felt like she hadn’t been able to do much of anything positive lately. There were so many things Max would change if she could from the last couple days. She buried her head into her arms and groaned. 

Mr. Jefferson stopped whatever he had been talking about. “I’m sorry,” he paused, looking at his attendance sheet, “Maxine,” he settled on. “If you would be so inclined, would you please tell me what a Daguerreotype is?” 

Max felt the eyes of her classmates on her, whispers and giggles present once again. She was sure that her face was flushed red once again. She tried to open her mouth and give some kind of reply, but her body refused to comply. Maybe she had known at one point, she could have sworn that had been on a preliminary test applying students had to take. That had been months now though, and seemed like an entirely different reality. At the moment, her brain was on lockdown. 

“I-I don’t know, sorry,” Max finally managed to get out. It was awkward and choked, but at least it was something. The rest of the class didn’t seem to agree, more muffled laughter breaking out. If she had to guess, they were probably the same people who had laughed when she came in. Most of them probably didn’t know the answer themselves. 

“I know, Mr. Jefferson,” a voice spoke out from somewhere in the classroom. “Louis Daguerre was a French painter who created ‘daguerreotypes’, a process that gave portraits a sharp reflective style, like a mirror.” 

Max didn’t recognize it. She glanced upwards, looking behind her to see who had spoken up. It was the girl she had pegged as, ‘The Popular One’, yesterday waiting for Kate. Maybe she wasn’t all bad if she had kind of bailed her out? Unless it was just for personal benefit, Max wanted to at least give her the benefit of the doubt. 

“Very good, Victoria,” Mr. Jefferson commended her. A smug smile graced Victoria’s face, looking pleased with herself. Max could have thrown up. Victoria looked over her way, seemingly looking her up and down and sneered. Personal benefit it was. 

Max turned back to the front of the classroom, propping her elbow up on her desk. At least trying to pay attention to what Jefferson was saying now. Despite her best efforts, with several cold calls from Jefferson on her being answered by Victoria, the rest of class proceeded much the same as it had started. Max’s frustration had built up quickly with Victoria and Jefferson, by this point she was more angry than nervous or any other feeling. She would get the next answer if she was called on. 

“That concludes our class for today,” Mr. Jefferson announced. Students began to file out of the room, as Max stayed in her seat. She considered walking to Jefferson and dropping the class. She considered screaming in sheer frustration. She considered demanding him to ask another question to answer. She knew these were ridiculous ideas, but she couldn’t help but think them.  
Instead of confronting him, she gathered her things and opted to channel her anger for him into next class. Someone bumped into her desk on their way out, sweeping some papers onto the ground and she didn’t even have to look up to know it was Victoria when they muttered, “Hipster,” on their way out. 

Max rolled her eyes and wondered how people could still be so childish. Kate was there in a second, gathering the papers that had been knocked onto the floor and handing them to Max. 

“Thanks, Kate,” Max sighed, taking the papers and shoving them unceremoniously into her bag. After hearing no response from her, Max looked up at Kate to see an expression of annoyance and possibly hate that she had never seen before from her. “Are you, uh, feeling okay, Kate?”

“Me?” Kate asked incredulously. “What about you? I can’t believe Jefferson would let the class behave like that, yet alone act like that himself.” Max’s jaw nearly dropped. Kate rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hand. “Let’s just get out of here, I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

“Agreed.”

They pushed their way out of the classroom not sparing a moment to look back at Jefferson, and made their way back outside. The sun was lower in the sky now, giving that soft glow to the campus again that Max had found so attractive in it earlier. The air was still slightly chilly, Max continued to lament her clothing choices for the day, taking her mind off of her struggles. 

The pair trudged across the campus, Kate guiding Max to their destination. The walk in total took about twenty five minutes, Max estimated, but they could have maybe done it in twenty if they had walked faster. 

“This is the place,” Kate announced. Unsurprisingly, the storefront looked like every other one in Arcadia Bay. Basic yellow tiling made up the front of the small one story building, with a generic ‘open’ sign hanging in the window of the door. “They make amazing tea here,” Kate reassured, pushing Max inside. “This will blow your mind.” 

“You’ve piqued my interest now, Kate. I hope you know I will accept nothing other than perfection.” 

Kate smirked. “You won’t be let down.” 

The restaurant was clearly Asian, probably Chinese if Max had to guess, but she wasn’t sure swearing she saw some Japanese writing on a sign, with paper lanterns hanging from various locations, and one of the waving cats sitting on the front desk next to a Buddha statue. They took a seat across from each other at a high top table near the far wall of the restaurant. A waiter came and dropped off some menus. 

Max scanned the menu, unsure what to pick off of the wide selection available. “So, is anything here especially good besides the tea we came here for?” 

“If you want to eat something, I’d highly recommend these,” Kate said, pointing at an item on the menu. Max couldn’t pronounce the name, but it looked kind of like a pancake, and pretty delicious at that. 

“I’ll get one of those too when he comes back, I guess,” Max said with uncertainty. “You wouldn’t mind picking the tea out for me too, would you?” 

Kate just laughed in response and nodded almost like she had expected Max to ask her something like that. “Sure, Max.”

Max wouldn’t be surprised if she had, Kate seemed to read her well without knowing her for very long yet. They placed their order when the waiter came back, unsurprisingly with Kate doing all of the talking. 

Max tapped the toe of her shoe on the floor a couple times. “Want to play a game while we’re waiting?” 

“Mm, alright,” Kate leaned in slightly across the table. “What were you thinking of?” 

“I hadn’t gotten that far yet actually,” Max laughed, looking around the table. “Uhh, let me see.” Max grabbed the edge of her placemat, moving the utensils and clean plate off of it, before flipping it over onto its blank side. “How about hangman?” 

“It’s been awhile since I’ve played that actually,” Kate hummed. “Let’s do it.” 

Max pulled out a pen from her pocket drawing a line for each letter. “Okay, Kate, category is movies.” 

Kate groaned. “Seriously, Max? Couldn’t have gone easier on me with the first one at least?” 

“Oops,” Max blushed. “I forgot.”

Kate just sighed and began guessing letters. Half a dozen guesses later and Kate was just about ready to give up. She had gotten a decent chunk of the letters out of the way, but still was unable to piece together any title she might remotely recognize.

“Erm, V?” Kate guessed wildly. Max shook her head, drawing on the last limb for the hangman.

“If you had guessed ‘F’ you might have gotten it,” Max said, filling in the letters on the page herself. 

“Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within?” Kate questioned. “What even is that?” 

“Only one of my favorite movies I’ve ever watched.”

“I’m pretty sure that nobody knows that this even exists, Max,” Kate sighed exasperated. “It sounds like you’re a bad product placement line out of a video game.”

Max huffed indignantly. “I genuinely enjoy the movie, and you haven’t even seen it, Kate. You’re just judging off of the title and are making unjust assumptions.” Max saw that Kate was clearly taking some kind of pleasure in watching her get worked up over this. “You’re mean, Kate.” 

“Take that back,” Kate said, gasping. 

“Oh, would you look at that, the tea is here,” Max exclaimed. 

The waiter set down a tray with two cups on it and a piping hot kettle of tea in the center of it.  
“Don’t think you’re getting away for long, Max,” Kate said wagging a finger. Max blushed at this, opting to pour tea for the both of them. 

“So,” Max said, peering into the cup in front of her, “What kind of tea is this exactly?” 

“I just asked the waiter to give us whatever he thought was best,” Kate shrugged, “I don’t know either, but I’m sure it’s good. Wait until they bring the food, too.” 

“If I die drinking this it’ll be your fault, Kate,” Max chastised, taking a sip of her tea.

Damn. Kate was not wrong when she said that this place had the best tea she had tasted in her life. Kate looked at her expectantly. Oh dear, Max could only last so long with Kate looking at her like that. Clearly, Kate was experienced in the doe-eyes tactic as well. Max held a straight face for a few moments before giving in.

“Alright, Alright,” Max sighed, “Yes this tea is delicious. Yes we’re coming back here in the future.” 

Kate broke into a grin, “Can I say I told you so?” she asked. 

“No, Kate, don’t you da-”

“Told you so.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone remember what this is about???

By the time the pair had exited the restaurant, Max felt surrounded by a pleasant warm feeling that wouldn’t leave her alone. Tonight was supposed to be cold tonight, Max was sure, but she definitely wasn’t feeling it at all. It must be the tea, she kept telling herself. Somehow she had almost forgotten about the events of the day. Well, almost forgotten at least. She had managed to push everything to the back of her mind during tea with Kate. 

Max glanced over at Kate. She also seemed to be in a good mood right now, a slight smile gracing her face as they navigated the sidewalks of Arcadia Bay. The sidewalks were only lit by the occasional street lamp, far less frequent than Max was used to, as they created some spaces were it was hard to see what you were stepping on in the dark. 

Kate paused at the corner of an intersections, looking left and then right. 

“Are we crossing, or did take a wrong turn, Kate?” Max asked. 

“Crossing.” 

“Just making sure,” Max said, “I got lost the first time I visited here.” 

Max could hear Kate’s disbelief as she snorted. Kate pulled Max across the street, continuing straight. Max could see the dim streetlights reflecting off of the water. The beach was to their right, the lighthouse behind them, watching over the bay. It’s own light occasionally visible as it rotated on the top. 

If Max thought that the bay was beautiful during sunset, she definitely had not been prepared for it at night. The way everything seemed to sparkle made Max suspect that nature was releasing the sunlight it had stored during the day back into the air, little by little. Which, technically, she guessed it was. 

“Wow,” Max whistled. She was unlucky that her camera was in terrible shape right now. She hadn’t even taken it out of her bag to look at it after stuffing it in there earlier. Max could only assume that it was broken and needed repairs from the quick glance she had taken at it. She also wasn’t sure how well it would pick up the scenery in the dark without some kind of lighting. The costs of old school, she thought. 

“It’s pretty here, isn’t it,” Kate agreed. Max nodded, though she doubted that Kate was looking at her to see. 

If every night looked the same in Arcadia Bay, Max had a feeling she would be coming out here frequently. “I could get used to this,” she said, gazing out over the bay. 

They eventually started moving down the sidewalk again, back towards Blackwell. Sounds of loud music drifted through the air to them. Max had expected there to be some kind of party happening on the first actual day of classes, but somehow she still found it surprising. 

A building on the edge of campus read, ‘Vortex Club’ on the front in large letters over double doors, a plaque to the left of them indicating when its dedication had been. Max paused outside the building, it being quite clearly where the music was coming from, causing Kate to stop alongside her. 

“Do you know what the Vortex Club is?” Max asked. She had remembered reading something about it being one of the organizations on campus initially as it was listed on the brochure, but not much beyond that. Kate shrugged. 

“Seems like a frat house, honestly,” Kate said. 

Max walked up the stone steps to peer at the plaque. ‘Established 1979, funded by Prescott Foundation’, it read, unfortunately for Max, there was no actual information on it. 

“We can look into it later if you want?” Kate offered.  
The glaring multi-colored lights flashed on the grass and sidewalk from the windows, the music seemed unrelenting. Max couldn’t confidently say that she wanted to go, but at the same time, she had never been to what one would call a legitimate party. “I don’t think so,” Max settled on. “Too crowded in places like that for me.”

“Okay,” Kate said, eyes lingering behind Max, focused on the building. She almost seemed like she wanted to say something else to Max, but remained silent. 

They began to make their way down the sidewalk again, towards the quad and their dorms. The campus was surprisingly empty at this point at night. They passed a few people on their dorm, and it wasn’t long before they were in the lobby. Max had expected a lot more people moving about at night in college, after all weren’t you finally free at this point? She wondered just how many people were at the Vortex party. 

Back in the room, Max flopped onto her bed, moaning with relief into her pillow. “I didn’t realize how much warmer it was inside until just now,” Max sighed, “What was I thinking going out without at least a jacket.” 

“Probably the same as me,” Kate laughed, “‘It can’t be that bad, school just started’.”

“School doesn’t have any effect on the temperature, Kate.” 

“I don’t think you have any grounds to joke my poor decisions, Max,” Kate teased. 

“Well,” Max paused, “Yeah, you’re right.” Max rolled over onto her back. “I think only your bunny likes me, Kate.” 

Kate smirked at Max’s concession, walking over to Alice’s cage, checking in on the bunny seeing if she had everything she needed still. Deciding she was okay, she took Alice out and brought her over to Max again. She set down the bunny on Max’s bed, and it hopped over to her. 

“Aww, she does like you,” Kate cooed. Max gingerly picked up Alice without any protest from her, bringing her onto her lap. 

“I’ll bet Kate takes good care of you,” Max told the bunny, stroking her fur. 

“Only the best,” Kate agreed. “Alice was the only pet I was allowed. I kind of wanted a dog, but my parents are allergic.” 

“Not being able to be near dogs?” Max gasped, bringing a her hands to her heart, as if she had been shot. “Truly, a fate worse than death.” 

Kate giggled. Max was tempted to make another joke about her parents, but thought better of it. A comfortable silence fell over them, Kate taking a seat next to Max to pet Alice. 

“If you had to pick, what kind of dog would you want?” Max asked. “I’ll answer after you do.” 

“Mm,” Kate hummed in thought. “I’d probably want a golden, or maybe a newfoundland?” 

“What’s with you and particularly fluffy animals?”

“I can’t help it if I like fluffy animals, Max,” Kate said, “Don’t lie to me, you do too.” 

“Okay, well yes, but,” Max struggled to find a comeback. “Yeah, I do too. I think I’d like a husky but I don’t know if I’d able to care for it properly.” 

The pair proceeded into a heated discussion over potential pet care costs, adoption fees, and even creating a care schedule. There was nothing like cute animals to take the mind off of stress, Max thought.

“We’re adopting a dog if we ever live off campus,” Kate stated emphatically. 

“I’m sold.” 

\-- -- --- --- --- 

In the following week, the days proceeded much the same as they had. Max would wander around campus for a bit after Kate left in the morning, going through the motions of attending class and walking around some more at night. 

Tragically, she had not yet been able to find a replacement for her camera, which was going to quickly become a problem for photography for obvious reasons. She had heard the department had student cameras that they were able to loan out, but wasn’t sold on using anything but her own. 

Jefferson continued to frustrate her, cold calling her multiple times despite her having no idea what the answer to his questions must be. “C’mon Max, you should know this,” were his repeated statements. She obviously didn’t, but he had kept calling on her anyways. 

It almost seemed like he had some kind of obsession with her, but it was probably just her imagination combined with the stress of being off to a terrifically poor start in that class. Despite not a single assignment having been assigned or turned in, Max felt like she was already behind. She hoped that she could redeem herself on actual photography projects. That was the idea, anyways. 

After a few photos being taken from the camera of her phone, she really had been questioning why she was a photography major. The rest of the class, besides Kate, was especially competitive in what they did. Already, many of them had assembled partial portfolios for future job prospects after college. Every time this subject came up in class as the week progressed, Max couldn’t help but feel ashamed of her meager portfolio that had somehow landed her into Blackwell’s program. 

Yeah, she was good enough to get here, but she really didn’t feel like she needed to stay here. Her sole consolation about all of this was that the week was finally over. It was Friday! Which, she wasn’t actually that enthusiastic about, but she liked to pretend that she could be. 

Max pulled out her phone, sending Kate a text asking where she was. Besides Kate, Max had not really had much success in making many friends. She had awkwardly learned the names of the other people on her floor, some in passing, some just from the decorated names hanging on the door of each room indicating who lived where. Beyond that, she had managed eye contact with a couple people in various classes. Max’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, reading the messages. 

Kate (14:24): Omw back to the dorm  
Kate (14:24): Are you heading back too?  
Max (14:25): Yeah, be there soon 

She began to walk faster back to the dorms, not wanting to keep Kate waiting too long. Maybe they could go somewhere, tea didn’t sound like a bad idea again. 

Max pushed her way into their room, expecting to already see Kate sitting on the bed or at her desk, but she wasn’t there yet. She sat down, and fiddled with her phone for a bit, waiting. 

Kate arrived a few moments later, a pleasant look on her face. “Look what I got,” she said, waving a flier in her hand. 

“What is that?”

“See for yourself,” Kate said, handing it to Max. The flier read in colorful lettering across the top of the page, ‘Vortex Club Party Tonight!’, with more text on the page with details that Max admittedly did not bother to read. 

“Okay, so,” Max trailed off. “Why is this supposed to be exciting?” 

Kate pursed her lips. “Haven’t you heard everyone talking about it?” Max shook her head.  
Any of the other girls on the floor?” She shook her head again. 

“I’m not interested,” Max sighed. That wasn’t completely true. She was slightly interested in the party, and what exactly the club was supposed to be, but she was certain she would have a bad time if she went. “Uh, are you?” Max asked politely. She really hoped that Kate’s answer would be no, but she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be.

“Well..” Kate paused, as if she was making her decision on the spot. “I was thinking about it.” And there it was. “I’ve just never been to anything like it, I’m kind of curious. And-” she gestured to the flier again, “-’Vortex Club is all-inclusive and here to support the Blackwell student body’, how can that be bad?” 

Oh great. Fantastic. “Kate- I really think that their club description might be just a little bit outdated.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” Max hadn’t seen much of the Vortex Club so far, but judging on what she had, there wasn’t a lot of doubt in her mind that it had deviated from the original concept of the club had been meant to be. Blaring, obnoxious parties were almost the opposite of a welcoming environment for all. 

“Maybe you should give them a second chance,” Kate insisted. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad.” 

“I don’t know, Kate,” Max rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m not really feeling it.” 

“Please?” Kate pleaded with a hopeful look on her face. 

“If you want go, Kate, you can,” Max stated emphatically. “I’ll be avoiding it.” 

As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt bad. The look of disappointment on Kate’s face was evident. It killed her to see Kate like this, but she wasn’t about to change her mind of the subject. She wanted to apologize for some reason, but at the same time she didn’t have anything to apologize for.

“Okay, Max, I won’t bother you about it,” Kate said, shifting slightly. “Do you want to get something before I go?”

Soon after, they found themselves back at the coffee shop that Max had visited early and dashed out of in a panic. They sat in the same spot that Max had sat in last time as well, only making Max feel slightly guilty at the slight coffee stain on the side of the table which she hoped wasn’t from her. At this late afternoon hour, it was empty besides the two of them and an employee behind the counter. Chloe was nowhere to be seen. 

Kate took a sip of her drink. “The tea’s not as good here compared to the other place,” she decided.

“Yeah,” Max agreed. 

“But their pastries are good,” Kate added. “I wish I could bake this well, I’ve done a decent amount of baking but nothing comes out as good as these. I had a pretty fun time making cookies with my sisters around Christmas at least.” 

Kate ranted on, continuing to talk about the holidays and other events coming up in the year, but she wasn’t focused on what she was saying. Max knew it was hard for Kate not to be gushing her excitement about the party later, her enthusiasm had definitely not dissipated about such a short conversation with Max. She appreciated how much Kate was trying to avoid the topic for her though. Max check the time on her phone. 

“Shouldn’t you be leaving about now if you’re aiming to get there ‘fashionably late’?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Kate said distractedly, checking the time on her phone as well. Kate got up from her seat, pausing for a second. “I’ll see you later, Max.” 

Then she was gone, and Max was left sitting alone in cafe once again. She stayed there for a bit longer, and left once the worker behind the cafe counter began to give her the evil eye, and she realized that he might be trying to close the cafe. 

It had been an hour or two since Kate left, Max noted, and she hadn’t heard anything from her yet. ‘Not that Kate’s obligated to let me know how she’s doing’, Max thought. Nonetheless, Max felt nervous for some reason, like maybe she should have gone with Kate. Or maybe she would be enjoying herself if she had gone, and not been moping walking about campus by herself on a Friday night. 

Without consciously deciding it, Max found herself once again back near the Vortex building. This time, there was a guy standing in front of the double doors, regulating how many people were in the building at a time, if Max had to guess. The same loud sounds were audible as last time she had walked by, with equally obnoxious lights going through the windows. 

Avoiding eye contact with the guy at the door, Max followed the sidewalk around to the side of the building. There were a couple windows on this side of the building too, but they were a lot higher up and it was impossible to see anything happening in side. There was also a single metal door with no outward facing handle on this side of the building.

A loud clanging noise came from the backside of the building. Max stared at the corner of the wall. It was probably nothing. 

Max’s curiosity got the better of her as she rounded the corner, much to the protest of all the advice that parents give their kids. There was just a butterfly sitting on top of a trash can lid, another next to it having been knocked over. Weird. The butterfly was an odd shade of blue, and something she’d never expect to see in Arcadia Bay because, last she knew, most creatures with bright shades of color like that, did not live north of the equator. 

Suddenly, the door burst open, and there was Kate. Much to Max’s surprise, Kate looked completely out of it, her eyes looked dull and lifeless and not like Kate at all. Kate looked at her as if she wasn’t even there, teetering over. 

“Kate!” Max cried, reaching out her arm. And that’s when it happened. Kate fell in reverse, stumbling backwards through the door, slamming it shut. A raccoon scurried along by Max’s feet back into the trash can that had been knocked over, and the trash can set itself back up straight. 

A splitting headache began to form in Max’s head, and she felt something begin to drip from her nose. She put her hand down, wiping her face with the other. It was blood. The trash can burst open again, toppling over as the raccoon dashed off. Max was completely lost. It was almost as if she had gone back in time. 

Max ran over to the door, pulling it open. In front of her was a short hallway with another door at the end of it. The hallway itself was barren with poor lighting, and a concrete floor. Max imagined that it wasn’t used very often for anything. She rushed over to the end of the hallway tugging at the door a couple times before something snapped and it came open. 

Immediately she was hit by the lights from the party, along with the music, hitting her in full force. No one saw her enter through the side, she hoped, but no one was staring at her obviously, and seemed to have missed her entrance entirely. 

The massive group of people was mostly clustered in the center of the room, closest to the speakers, and presumably DJ. The were only a couple people scattered around the sides of the room and, if Max had to guess, maybe a couple in some other rooms of the building. She hoped that Kate was in here. 

The multicolored lighting wasn’t helping her growing headache, and it definitely was not helping her find Kate, but at least no one had commented on the bloody nose. If she had rewound time, there was not much time left to find Kate before she would come out the back. She had to find her before something happened to her. 

Too late. Kate came out from the group gathered in the center of the room stumbling towards the side and dropped the water bottle she had been holding while she put her hand up for balance. Max extended her arm again without thinking the world turning around her. Her headache seemed like it doubled in pain and she had no doubt her nose had started to bleed again. She couldn’t hold it any longer, dropping her arm letting the world returning to normal motion around her. 

Max couldn’t do that again, she had to find Kate fast. She felt light headed now, and stumbled on her first step towards the center. She sat down hard, head spinning, pulling her back up against the wall. She pulled out her phone, sending a text to Kate. 

Max (22:27): Kaet I’n here where r u  
Max (22:28): pls  
Max (22:28): [Image Attached]  
Max (22:28): help

All she could do was hope that Kate had noticed her phone going off. She felt a soft hand on her shoulder, looking up to see Kate, looking perfectly normal. 

“Max, what happened?” She practically shouted at her over the noise of the music. 

“Later, please,” Max groaned, “Can we get out of here?” 

Kate helped Max to her feet, supporting Max by pulling one of her arms around her shoulder. Max assumed that she looked like the token drunk freshman at the moment, if it wasn’t for the bloody nose she probably could’ve pulled it off. 

They made it outside without much hassle, going unnoticed except by the guy outside the front doors who stared at them for a moment but made no comment. Kate rummaged through her purse, pulling out a water bottle, opening it and offering it to Max. Max knocked it out of her hands with a lazy swipe of her hand. 

“Don’t drink that,” she slurred. Not that it mattered. The contents of the bottle were almost completely drained out of the bottle by now. She began to feel extremely tired, closing her eyes for a moment. 

The next thing Max knew, she was back on her bad in the dorm room with Kate. The sun was bright and shining through the window. The dried blood was gone from underneath her nose, but she was still dressed in last night’s clothes. Kate was also asleep on the other bed, sprawled out with her limbs sticking out haphazardly over the edge of the bed. Alice was staring at her from her cage, nose twitching. 

Max blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes. She wanted to hold onto the hope that the events of last night had not happened, and that it had been your normal friday night. Kate had not almost gotten drugged, Max didn’t pass out, and she definitely did not rewind time. The world around her didn’t seem real. 

Max would’ve liked to have maintained these thoughts longer, but the bloodstains on the front of her shirt stood out too much for her to remain ignorant. Well, there was one way for be sure about all of this. Max tentatively raised her arm the same way she did yesterday, and the world began to shift again, the sun went slightly down in the sky, Alice went back to sleep in her cage. She stopped herself before she went any further, not wanting to incite any of the side effects from yesterday. 

At the moment, Max felt relatively fine. Her nose wasn’t bleeding, she didn’t feel like passing out, but she wasn’t sure how much more she had in her each time she rewound before something would happen. Maybe it was a matter of practice, and the more she did it, the more time it would take to start showing symptoms?

There was a lot she didn’t understand about what she was able to do, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to find out though. 

Max got out of bed and changed quickly. Max wasn’t quite ready to explain anything to Kate yet, and felt decidedly guilty after last night. What were you supposed to say to someone that got drugged and then magically didn’t, and had no knowledge of the event, without seeming completely insane? She wrote out a quick note to Kate, telling her she was fine and felt a lot better and would be back later in the day. 

The campus was still silent as it was early saturday morning, and the day didn’t actually start for most students until at least noon. Max walked aimlessly and uninterrupted, her feet bringing her across the campus to the beach. 

On the water in the distance, there were a few boats visible as well, lazily drifting along the water. Not knowing where else to go, Max walked along the soft sand, the waves of water coming up close, almost touching her feet. She took off her shoes and socks so she wouldn’t get them wet and walked into the tide more. 

She walked further and further, distancing herself from Blackwell. She had thought a couple times about turning back but she had no real commitments for the day constraining her time. Max laughed a little at the thought. 

There was a lot Max was confused about at the moment. First of all, how did she become able to rewind time? More importantly, why her? Was it just to stop whatever was happening last night? Then by today the ability should have been gone. Too much was at play here for Max to be able to make any snap judgements, or assumptions as to any origin to her new ability. 

If the movies or books were any indication of real life, sooner or later she would find some old mentor that had vast experience with similar situations, that for some reason is incapable of doing anything anymore, and passes all of their knowledge on to her to save the universe. She had a slight feeling that she might be a little unlucky, and that wouldn’t be happening this time.

Max arrived at the base of the hill leading up to the lighthouse. She had wanted to come up here since she’d seen it initially, she figured now was as good of a time as ever.

Moments later, Max reached the top of the hill. The view from up here was better than she had even imagined. The town of Arcadia Bay was completely visible, and appeared a lot smaller from the top of the hill. The sun shone overhead, glistening on the surface of the water. Small waves rolled across the water, creating a picturesque scene. 

This would have to be the first place she went whenever she was able to fix her camera, Max decided. She sat down on a bench facing towards the bay and watched contently. She would have expected the lighthouse to be a more popular destination, but Arcadia Bay was never considered high traffic to begin with. Still, it was nice that such a beautiful place was quiet at this time of day, where in other places, people might be getting up to watch the sunrise. Max was a couple hours late for that, but still. If she had to guess, no one in Blackwell would be doing that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmmmm so sorry about that if anyone was looking forward to a fast update on this. I felt as if the tone shift between the first two chapters was a bit abrupt moving into this one and that bothered me for a long time but I made no effort to change it? So I kind of just sat there not writing anything additional for this telling myself I'd go change something here and I didn't so I decided to just post this unedited stuff to at least have everything I've written outside of planning for this be out there. 
> 
> Playing LiS again has been a trip and I think I've cried randomly in every episode. I panicked so badly when I made a wrong dialogue selection with Kate but it was fine. The thing that stuck with me the most after playing BtS and LiS consecutively is the drastic difference in Rachel's character. It seems likely it was just difference in game direction between the developers of each game but at the same time if they're equally relevant Rachel's actions with Frank / Jefferson sit worse. Also taking into account BtS is mostly from Chloe's perspective which has effect on the player's perspectives of characters as well. I was actually thinking about this stuff for so long trying to rationalize LiS just saying that Chloe/Rachel mutually decided they weren't fit to be romantic partners or something?? But like idk how anyone can reasonably say that after playing BtS. 
> 
> I also still haven't played the Farewell episode. Idk if my heart wants to see that, like everyone knows what that episodes about clearly its been out for a while now too I'm just... Kind of sad that's the last of and of the cast of the characters from LiS 1. Probably pre-ordering LiS 2 but i'm kind of dragging my feet on that one too. At least I'm interested in talking about LiS stuff again and that's a good start to writing more for this. Until next time


	4. Chapter Four

Up on by the lighthouse all alone it was a lot easier to get her thoughts in order. Max wouldn’t have to think about someone coming up to her randomly, or dealing with people that so far had not been favorable towards her. She could simply relax, without worrying about accidently spilling her thoughts out to someone. 

Behind her she heard the crunch of shoes walking up the rocks and dirt to the top of the hill. Max groaned slightly, she had definitely jinxed it. She turned around her breath catching momentarily in her throat. Chloe was standing in front of her a couple feet away with a mildly disappointed look on her face.

“You wouldn’t have happened to have seen anyone else around up here, would you?” Chloe asked, glancing around the area. 

Max shook her head in response. “I don’t think that many people from Blackwell get up early on weekends,” she said, wincing at how nervous she sounded.

“Fuck,” Chloe muttered before sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose. “You sure? I’m looking for a girl, blondish hair, wears feather earrings, killer jawline, hot as f-”

“I haven’t seen your girlfriend, no,” Max interjected before Chloe could go any further. 

Chloe looked at her suspiciously. “How do you know Rachel’s my girlfriend?”  
Max grounded the tip of her shoe in the dirt. She considered making up some story about being friends with friends on social media before thinking better of it. “I uh, saw you and her the other day at the coffee shop that you work at.” 

Realization dawned on Chloe’s face. “Ohh, you’re the girl that spilled coffee everywhere the other day, I remember you now.” 

“Sorry about the mess, again.” Max felt her face grow hot. Out of all of the people to show up randomly at the lighthouse it had to have been her. It was like the universe was out to embarrass her. The sooner she forgot about that incident, the better.“Um, can I ask why you thought she might be up here?”

“She and I come up here pretty often. She also likes to watch the sunrise from time to time so I figured it was worth a shot.” Max watched Chloe pull her cellphone out of her pocket absently thumbing through it. “It’s been almost twelve hours since she’s responded and she wasn’t in her dorm room when I checked.” 

“Maybe she forgot to charge her phone and went somewhere without it?” Max tried to reason. “She’s probably fine and is just getting breakfast somewhere.” 

Chloe shook her head, dismissing the idea. “No, she was supposed to let me know when she got back from a party last night, she never forgets.” 

Max felt a chill run down her spine. “That… wouldn’t happen to be a Vortex Club party she went to last night, would it?” Max asked, fearing the response she already knew had to be coming. 

“Yeah,” Chloe said slowly, “It was.”

Max was sure that Chloe saw the look of dread flash over her face. “I think, uh, it’s possible that something might have happened to her last night,” she stammered. 

“What do you mean by that?” Chloe stared at her, her expression impossible to read. 

Max swallowed, she had no idea how to explain what had happened last night. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times before spilling out, “I just have a friend who had a bad experience that could’ve been a lot worse at one of their parties.” 

“I don’t suppose you could introduce me to said friend?”

This was exactly what Max had been dreading. The events of last night hardly even seemed real to her, but the text messages from last night existed as proof she hadn’t dreamed the whole thing entirely, as well as the further experimentation this morning.

The main issue stemmed from the fact that Kate wouldn’t remember being drugged- she might not even believe that there was anything wrong with the bottle she had been given in the first place. It was Kate afterall, one of the few human beings who seemed to be able to find the good in any individual. What if Max tried to get information, and Kate flat out called Max a liar? Maybe she didn’t need to explain the situation, and she could just ask if she remembered who had given her the water. Maybe Kate wouldn’t want to be bothered.

Still, there was a certain part of her that felt wrong withholding any part of the situation from Kate. She didn’t deserve that. Kate wouldn’t do something like that to her. Max repeated that thought to herself several times. It would be fine. 

“I just have to check with her first,” Max explained. 

“Makes sense,” Chloe said, “Can I see your phone?”

“What for?”

“To put my number in?” Chloe huffed, rolling her eyes. 

“Oh, uh, right- sorry.” Max fumbled for her phone before realizing she didn’t have it on her. She cursed every clothes designer who decided that pockets weren’t a necessary feature. “I forgot my phone back at the dorms, can I see yours instead?” 

Chloe handed her phone over to Max. She quickly entered her information into Chloe’s phone. Pausing for a moment before entering her name for the contact. She was fairly certain that Chloe didn’t know her name yet, which made the entire conversation they’d just had slightly more embarrassing. Max handed the phone back over.

“Thanks, coffee girl.” Maybe it would be better to introduce herself at the start of a conversation next time. Chloe gestured to the way back down the hill. “Shall we?” 

Max opened her mouth to say that she had someplace she needed to be. “Uh, sure.” Well, she almost did. 

Chloe started down the path and lead the way. Max followed close behind her, trying to figure out how she got to this point, a constantly recurring theme in the past twenty four hours. 

“So I was thinking we could go over to Rachel’s dorm first to see if anyone there has seen her around,” Chloe glanced over her shoulder to see Max nodding in agreement. “Then we can head to your friend’s after if we need to.” 

Max felt her heart jump. “Actually- I’m not sure if she’s comfortable with this yet, I still have to ask first.” 

“Oh, right. That’s cool,” Chloe replied, and Max felt her body relax. She pulled out her phone to text Kate. 

Max (07:23): Hey Kate, I need to talk to you about something  
Max (07:23): Are you still home? 

“Well, here we are,” Chloe gestured, “Hop in.”

They had reached the bottom of the path before Max had even realized it. In front of them parked haphazardly taking up two parking spots was a truck that Max could only aptly describe as a rust bucket. 

“Are you sure that this isn’t going to fall apart the moment it has people in it?” Max asked skeptically. 

“It got me here, didn’t it?” Chloe replied, opening the driver’s side door and sliding into the seat. Max watched the car for any signs that it was about to collapse. She gave it a few seconds before walking around to the passenger’s side door and getting in with visible apprehension. 

There were various drawings all over the cabin’s inside, along with several trinkets resting on the dashboard. Max hardly knew Chloe, but if she had to take a guess at what kind of car she drove from looking at her, this would have been very similar to her guess. 

She looked closer at some of the graffitti. There was an anarchy symbol done in black marker just above the seats. On the inside of her door there was a peace symbol that looked like it had been spray painted on. Another was simply a message that read, ‘I’m gay’. With another in below it in different handwriting that read, ‘Me too’. 

Max snorted and Chloe glanced over at her. “Your truck has character,” Max giggled. 

Chloe smiled slightly. “Rachel and I worked on decorating the inside when I first found her.” She took a right turn and kept straight, passing some familiar buildings. Max thought they had to be pretty close to Rachel’s dorm by now. “I think we did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.”

“It looks like it belongs in a museum for sure,” Max smirked.

Now that her initial worries had been mostly subverted it felt surprisingly easy for Max to talk to Chloe. At least for now. There was still the doubt lurking in the back of her mind that she would fuck something up and get Chloe mad at her. In the end Chloe was only really talking to her because she was trying to find Rachel. It would be best to remember that. The smile slipped off of Max’s face and decided it would be best to stay quiet for the rest of the ride.

“We have arrived at la casa de Rachel,” Chloe said. They rolled to a stop, this time Chloe parking in a much more socially acceptable spot. She opened the glovebox and rummaged through it before pulling out a parking pass and sliding it on top of the dash before popping open her door. Max followed suit, following Chloe across the parking lot.

Chloe pushed her way through the entrance to the dorms, holding the door open for Max. Max caught it and followed her as Chloe started down the hallway. They passed a few people on the way, one of them fist bumping Chloe in passing. 

“Well, this is it.” Chloe tried the handle to the door. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked and flew wide open. The room was dark and there was the outline of someone sprawled haphazardly on the edge of the bed. “Rachel?” Chloe exclaimed. 

Max flipped the lightswitch on to the right of her. The figure on the bed was indeed Rachel, though looking comparatively disheveled since the last time Max had seen her. A cellphone which Max assumed was Rachel’s was on the floor. 

Chloe went over to the bed and shook Rachel’s shoulder. Rachel groaned and Max let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. 

“Are you okay?” Chloe asked, staring into Rachel’s eyes. From what Max could see, Rachel’s expression looked beyond what one would expect from someone who was just tired. She looked much closer to the way that Kate looked, or would’ve looked like, last last night and that made it all the more unsettling. 

“Chl-oe?” Rachel strung together. She reached one hand up caressing Chloe’s cheek. “Where am I?” 

“You’re in your room,” Chloe stated, a look of worry spreading across her face. “Can you remember what you did last night?”

“What I did? God, Chloe did I do something wrong? I swear I didn’t drink that much, I’ve been getting better!” Rachel was slouched up in bed now, her back resting against her pillows which were propped up on her headboard. 

“I’m just asking what happened, Rach,” Chloe said gently, rubbing Rachel’s arm comfortingly. Rachel’s eyes darted around the room spotting Max standing in the doorway. She held eye contact with her for a few moments before looking back at Chloe. 

“I can’t- what time is it even?” Rachel shook her head. 

“Almost eight,” Chloe said softly. “You weren’t here late last night.” 

Rachel was beginning to visibly panic. Her chest was heaving up and down at a faster rate. “Babe, I was supposed to be home from the party by one last night, I don’t…” She sniffled a bit, rubbing her eyes, “I don’t remember. Everything’s just so hazy…” 

This would go on forever, Max had to jump in. “Do you remember talking to Nathan Prescott at all last night?” 

“I think so?” Rachel winced, massaging her temples. “The guy’s a creep, not sure why I’d make much time for him in my day. I think he came up to me at some point, or up to Dana maybe?” she shook her head. “I barely remember a damn thing.” 

“I think,” Max took a deep breath, “I think he might have drugged you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk, talking a lot but it's still talk, gotta love how it's somehow all on meee 
> 
> AHem. Anyways. Shorter wait this time than last time I think? Kind of shorter chapter though. I feel like I presented a conflict and then immediately resolved it which is not good but its not really a resolution so maybe it's just progress and that makes it o k a y? 
> 
> Taking Max and Chloe and expecting them to connect quickly was something that I wanted to do here but it's a bit harder without the background of them being childhood friends which I decided to scrap that major part of their story for some reason when I initially wrote this. It's fine though don't even worry about it. I just wasn't sure how realistic it would be for Chloe to get along well with Max without previously knowing her due to the nature of her character, but it actually didn't seem that far fetched if Rachel was still around balancing her out a bit. If they balance each other even, I feel like they fuel bad qualities too sometimes but there are enough differences between Chloe and Rachel that I think Rachel would be able to get Chloe to act more amicably with random people even if she doesn't trust them either. 
> 
> If I'm being honest I think this chapter needed more fleshing out in general and the point I cut it off at the end kind of sucked a little but I just wanted to post something and it's like 1:30 AM right now and I'm too lazy to write more and have no patience. (Yet I took the time to type all of this shit out WHICH IS APPARENTLY 400 WORDS OF ME RANTING??) 
> 
> I've been replaying Life is Strange but maybe I should go and replay Before the Storm too just to make sure I can do everyone's character justice no matter how inconsistent some things are in characterization between games. Ramble Ramble
> 
> Hoping to get another chapter in before I move into college but I'm not very good at keeping schedules as anyone reading this probably knows by now. (If there's somehow anyone who clicked and read through this because of the very very short start to a Clexa fic I am so so sorry one day I will make a return to that I swear. Really. Really really.) 
> 
> That's about all I've got for now


	5. Chapter Five

Max stared at the floor not daring to look up at Rachel. She didn’t want to have to face the look that would be on her face, know that she was essentially responsible for it. There was no outburst of denial, no immediate questioning. The silence persisted for several moments before Max couldn’t take it anymore and she looked up to meet Rachel’s eyes.

The look on Rachel’s face was one of complete shock and worse, one of realization. Then there were her eyes. Oh god, her eyes. They seemed empty and lifeless, possessing none of the emotions that had been there just minutes ago; sadness, anger, confusion, they were all gone. Her mind seemed as if was in another world entirely. 

“Rachel, are you...” Chloe trailed off. She paused for a moment before wrapping her arms around Rachel carefully watching Rachel for any sign she might be uncomfortable with the action. Rachel leaned slightly into Chloe’s embrace, still not saying a word. Max didn’t blame her. What could she say, really?

It was at this time that Max felt like she was intruding on a very private moment that she had no business being present for. The option of leaving wasn’t very appealing either though, what kind of person drops something like she had on Rachel and leaves right after? Max shifted uncomfortably. 

As if sensing her discomfort, Chloe cleared her throat quietly. “I’ll uh, text you later if that’s okay, Max.” Max nodded, slowly taking a few steps backwards towards the door. “We’re going to get this asshole, he won’t get away with this.” 

Hearing the determination and anger seeping into Chloe’s voice, Max was knocked out of the haze she had just been in. “Definitely not,” she agreed. 

Max remembered how excited Kate had been the previous night that someone had invited her to a college party. She of course, had done her research on the club as well as bothered Kate before she had left for the night. She really did need to go back and talk to Kate about last night.

Max took one last look back at the pair before she left and headed back towards her dorm room. She knew roughly where she was relative to major landmarks of campus but she wasn’t exactly sure. Most of her classes took place on the opposite side of campus and hadn’t been able to make her way over onto this side yet to look at the scenery. 

Increasing her pace, realizing that it was probably best to get back to her room if she wanted to talk to Kate before she went out for whatever reason. A couple turns later and about twenty minutes later, Max was able to find way back to her building and pushed her way inside and jogged up the stairs to her floor.

When Max finished unlocking her door and pushed it open, Kate was sitting with her back propped up on a pillow reading out of some book Max didn’t recognize. Her head shot up as Max walked in and slid a small piece of paper into the book to act as placeholder. 

Max made her way over to her bed, taking a seat next to Kate. Max wasn’t sure what to say as Kate looked at her expectantly. “Som about last night,” Max rubbed her upper left arm with he right, “It uh, it was Nathan Prescott who invited you to that party right?” 

Kate stared at her full of concern for Max. “Yes, Max,” she confirmed. “Did something happen with him? He spent a lot of time around me last night but I already told you that.”

“You did?” Max asked with confusion. Now that she thought about it, she was having difficulty recalling some pieces of conversation from last night. She knew Kate had to be right and had told all of this already, otherwise Max would have had no way of suspecting that was who had drugged Rachel. “I guess so, huh. Sorry, my brains not working that well right now.” 

“It’s okay, Max, you had a rough night,” Kate said, rubbing Max’s back softly. Max was instantly reminded of a similar position of two other people from not long ago. 

“Y-yeah, I guess,” Max stammered. She knew Kate could probably see the obvious blushing on her face. The last thing she wanted to do was say something to make this awkward. Thankfully for Max, Kate didn’t seem to notice or didn’t comment on it. Either way, it worked out for Max. 

“So you said you had something you wanted to talk to me about?” 

Kate looked at Max expectantly, wrapping her arm around her and resting her hand on her shoulder. Max went over her explanation for the events of last night and took a deep breath before looking up to meet Kate’s eyes. With all the times that Max had avoided making eye contact with people, she had almost forgotten how pretty eyes could actually be. Kate’s soulful eyes flooded her vision and poured themselves straight into her, bringing warmth and comfort. What was it Max had wanted to talk about again? Max stared mindlessly, her thoughts escaping her at the moment.

“Max?” Kate prompted. Max shook her head in response. 

“Right, uh-” Max hopped off the bed and grabbed Kate’s hand, pulling her over to the window. “It’ll be easier if I just show you.” 

“Show me what, the sky?” It did look very nice out.

“Technically, yes? That’s not what I really wanted to do though.” She turned to face Kate looking at her directly, this time without whatever had got ahold of her last time. She remembered hearing somewhere that people who made eye contact speaking were supposed to be more truthful. The last thing she wanted to do was give Kate any other reasons not to believe her in addition to claiming to possess time powers. “Alright, pay attention to the cars that go by in the next minute or so, give or take a few seconds.” 

“Okay, Max,” Kate said, looking more confused than before. The pair watched a few cars drive by, in and out of their view. Red, then black, then gray, then black again. Max didn’t know enough about cars to know the brands as they zipped by but she would take a few guesses if she had to. Max raised her arm, rewinding back to the start of their conversation at the window. She was pleasantly surprised upon the realization that she had barely felt any discomfort at the act of rewinding the short period of time. 

“Alright, pay attention of the next couple of cars that go by in the next minute or so, give or take a few seconds. They’re going to be red, black, gray, black, in that order.” 

“Oh, so we’re playing a game?” Kate smiled. Max watched helplessly as the four cars she had known were coming sped by while Kate was facing and talking to her. “Sounds fun, but what do I get if you’re wrong. Oh, I know! Should I take a guess at what their colors are going to be too?” 

Right, time to try again. Max raised her hand again, rewinding to the same point again, feeling a bit more drained this time. A different approach this time, maybe?

“Right, there’s not an easy way to say this so I’m just going to say it,” she took a deep breath, “I have time powers and I’m going to tell you the exact colors of the next four cars that will pass on the street.” Kate’s eyes widened, staring back at her in slight disbelief. “I know I sound crazy, but please just watch for me?” Kate nodded slowly.

“I believe you, Max.” 

“The colors are going to be red, black, gray, then- wait, really?” 

“Of course I believe you,” Kate said while taking a step towards her, squeezing her hand. “You seem really serious about this.” Max sighed in relief. Kate’s trust in her meant the world to her. Getting to this point had been a lot easier than she had expected. Max felt herself beginning to tear up and held back a sniffle while rubbing her eyes with the back of her unoccupied hand. Kate slowly pulled her into a hug and Max felt herself break down. 

Everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours caught up to her all at once. Why did the universe stick her with this out of everyone? It had been less than a day and she had already indirectly gotten Rachel drugged and possibly worse by saving Kate. What gave her the right to make decisions like that with such gravity on lives? What gave her the right to fuck up and destroy someone’s life? 

Max didn’t say any of this to Kate.

“It’s okay, Max,” Kate whispered into her ear. This only made Max let herself go even further, her cries shaking her whole body. “I’ve got you.” 

Kate gently guided her back over to her bed, helping Max onto it. Kate stood by the edge of the bed before deciding to sit next to Max again. Max buried her head into Kate’s shoulder, muffling her sobs. They stayed in that position until Max had calmed down and had reduced her cries to sniffles. Max pulled back from Kate, staring at the ground. 

“Sorry.”

“Max,” Kate sighed. She raised her hand touching Max’s cheek, turning her face towards her. “Don’t apologize for things you have no business apologizing for.”

“Okay.” 

Max felt herself on the verge of tears again gazing into Kate’s eyes. Kate always made her feel better about herself. There was something about her that put Max at ease. Maybe it was how Kate made her understand what it meant to have someone you could tell anything to. Maybe it was how Kate made her feel like she was accepted. Maybe she… 

She didn’t want to think about that now.

“I’m kind of tired,” Max said. “Could you maybe, um.”

“Cuddle with you?” Kate asked. Max felt herself blush. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed, if that wasn’t what you wanted to ask?” 

“N-no, you were right,” Max fumbled. “If that’s okay? I… don’t want to be alone right now.” 

Kate lay down on the bed, wrapping one of her arms around Max’s stomach and pulling her down with her. Max let out a squeak. She felt more relaxed than she had in a long time. The feeling of Kate pressing into her back filled her with warmth. She closed her eyes and smiled, basking in the feeling. She tried to slide back further and wiggle herself further into Kate’s space. Max felt the quiet exhale from Kate, feeling her arm tighten around her. 

“Thank you,” Max murmured, feeling herself begin to drift off. Kate hummed in response, holding her as close to herself as she could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of another short chapter, just wanted to get this out honestly. I was sitting on like 1500 words for the longest time without adding anything to it concerned about the fact I had to retcon some stupid shit I wrote in the last chapter because I didn't consult my outline I had apparently, and now I think I have to figure out where the hell I'm going because by doing what I did and trying to fix it in this chapter I effectively cut out most of what I had planned. 
> 
> I guess it's not the worst thing to happen ever but it feels kind of shitty to have to plan things again because I wanted to end a chapter and post it and felt like it had to end with something impactful instead of taking two seconds to look at my outline and be like, "hey wait a sec, don't do that". Oops.
> 
> This chapter was also kind of unedited? Then again that's most of what I write, so it probably doesn't read any different from any of the previous chapters. I tried to structure some things a little bit differently in the end of the chapter so maybe(?) that will look different but I'm not sure. Anyways. 
> 
> It's a lot easier to rant about how you're not writing enough than to actually write, weird. Not going to stop me from writing gay shit though, even if it takes me like a billion years. 
> 
> I'll be back again soon hopefully. Thanks, again, if you're still reading this.


End file.
